March 09, 2025
Greetings and blessings to all of you. The church is a meeting place where the people of God learn about the God they serve; how to honor God in their lives and loving one another. In Exodus 34:12-17 When Moses got instructions from God for the Israelites who were in the wilderness the Word said, “Be careful never to make a treaty with the people who live in the land where you are going. If you do, you will follow their evil ways and be trapped. Instead, you must break down their pagan alters, smash the sacred pillars and cut down their Asherah poles. You must worship no other gods for the Lord whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you.” But just like in the OT times… we have decided to do just what God told the Israelites not to do. Just as God used Moses to speak with the Israelites; we have the Men of God (the Pastors) and we have the Bible to do the same. We have been given instructions on how to live- from two sources. But we have a problem- we do not want to come to the meeting place (the church) any longer nor do we want to read the Bible. It appears that one of many of the deadly D’s have entered into the minds of professing Christians. It is called Deception! The greatest deception that has hurt the Body of Christ in respect to church attendance and obedience is a movement called Self-Esteem or Self -Love. In 2 Tim. 3:1-2 the Word says, “dangerous times will come... for men will be lovers of themselves and their money”. The true gospel is a call to self-denial. It is not a call to self-fulfillment. This lie puts the gospel in opposition to the professing Christians that want to live in self-denial refusing to face the hard truth of conviction over their sins - then commit to change; to come to the assembly (or God’s house) to meet the Almighty. That would not work for them. Some of the people of God have decided to pull God down from His supremely elevated place of authority so then they can lift themselves up.. replacing the very Words of God with self-esteem psychological self -talk. Jesus said, “if anyone desires to come after Me let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matt. 16:24-25) It is about the death of self…You win by losing; you live by dying.
With the Love of Christ
First Lady Vivian C. Currie
Pastor ALC